The Spacediver Trilogy
by X-Shadow.of.Darkness-X
Summary: The Spacedivers. An elite branch of the Alliance Navy. Follow the story of Alpha Squad as they assist Commander Shepard in his mission to stop the Reapers from returning to the Milky Way and unleashing destruction on a hitherto unseen scale. A story of love, war and everything in between. MShep/Liara, Ashley/OC. Three books in one volume. AU.


**The Spacediver Trilogy, Book One**

**~Chapter One - Reassignment~**

Captain James Radley strode through the corridors of the SSV Dunkirk, heading toward the bridge. One arm swung loosely at his side, while the other kept a firm grip on his helmet.

Reaching the door to the bridge, he punched in the code to open the door. The metal slid to the side with a soft hiss, allowing the captain access to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge!" came the voice of the Dunkirk's executive officer, Commander Richard Davenport. James nodded to him.

"At ease."

The various crew members relaxed as the captain took his usual position on the bridge.

"Jackpot, how long until we reach Mindoir?"

Flight Lieutenant Joseph 'Jackpot' Gamble looked at a small holoscreen next to the main ship ship controls.

"About twenty minutes, Captain."

James nodded.

"Good. Engage the stealth systems and move into position."

"Aye aye, Captain."

James settled back into his chair, picking up a holopad, looking over the mission details.

On the face of it, the mission seemed simple enough. Several years ago, batarian slavers had swept through one of the colonies on Mindoir, slaughtering every single colonist. The Alliance had been unwilling to send in a fleet to take the colony back, but now the batarians were establishing a base of operations in the colony, something had to be done, if only to protect the other colonies in the Traverse. So they had decided to send in the Spacedivers.

The Spacedivers were an elite branch of the Alliance Navy. Given advanced training in every conceivable area of military training, the Spacedivers were the Alliance's answer to the Council Spectres. Often deployed as shock troops, Spacedivers dropped to the planet surface from orbit, utilising the advantage of surprise to quickly clear the area. They were revered among the Alliance military, something every marine aspired to be.

"Captain?"

James's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Jackpot's voice.

"Yes?"

"We're starting our approach run. Stealth systems are engaged."

"Good." He turned to the intercom. "Attention! This is Captain James James. We are approaching the drop zone. Alpha Squad, please report to the drop pods in ten minutes." He stood, picking up his helmet as he did so. "Flight Lieutenant, you have the bridge."

"Yes sir!" came the reply from the pilot, his hands blurring over the controls. James nodded before following Davenport off of the bridge, heading towards the drop pods.

Just under ten minutes later, the rest of Alpha Squad had joined the two officers. There were only five in Alpha Squad, all highly trained with plenty of experience under their belts. Lieutenant Commander David Johnson was a powerfully built man, armed with an assault rifle and shotgun. The squad's powerhouse, he was the muscle in their missions. Sergeant Matthew Collins was the squad's sniper and tech expert. A slight man, he was well-versed in all kinds of alien tech. Lieutenant Amy Simpson was the only female member of the squad, but her expertise in the various weaponry used throughout the galaxy was invaluable. All were already suited up, their helmets on.

"Okay guys, you know the drill." James said, as he placed his own helmet on. "We go in, take out the leader, download their files and get the hell out of there."

"What about any captured slaves?" Simpson asked.

"We free them once the mission is over. Do not endanger them unnecessarily. You all know how we do things. Any other questions?" No one answered. "Excellent. Get into position."

The squad dispersed. James stepped into his pod, sealing the door behind him. He settled himself into position, awaiting Jackpot's voice through his headset.

"_Captain, do you read me?_"

"_Loud and clear, Lieutenant._"

"_Fantastic. One minute to drop._"

"_Copy that._"

James shifted his weight slightly.

"Activate GPS tracker."

The inside of the faceplate of his helmet lit up as various statistics displayed information about his altitude, speed and distance to target.

"_Alpha Squad, prepare for drop._"

James took a deep breath. No matter how many times he dropped, he still felt a small rush of excitement as the adrenaline rushed through his system.

"_Dropping in 3... 2... 1..._"

The airlock opened, and the captain accelerated out of the pod, sucked out by the sudden change in pressure. Looking to the side, he could see the rest of his squad rocketing toward the planet.

"_Activate thrusters._"

The thrusters on his vambraces and greaves came on, giving him a small boost to his descent. Checking his visor, he could see that he was right on course.

As they breached the atmosphere, his body jolted violently. Once again, he thanked the technology that had gone into designing the suit shields that allowed them to withstand reentry to a planet. He checked his speed counter, which was now approaching 900mph.*****

The squad broke through the thin layer of cloud. Checking his visor, he adjusted his trajectory accordingly. Checking his altitude, he spread his arms and legs, slowing his descent slightly as his increased surface area created extra drag. Checking on his team, he could see that they had all mirrored his actions as they continued to freefall.

As they neared the ground, they could see the batarian base. Adjusting his position, he manipulated his thrusters to slow his descent.

_5000... 4000... 3000... 2000... 1000..._

The squad landed on a small rise just outside the base, the shock absorbers in their suits taking the brunt of the impact. James stood, disabling the GPS tracker.

"_Squad, check comms._"

"_Davenport here, I read you Captain._"

"_Simpson, receiving._"

"_Johnson, on the ground._"

"_Collins, loud and clear, Captain._"

"_Dunkirk, do you copy?_"

"_Loud and clear, Captain._" came Jackpot's voice over the radio.

"_Tell Singh to be ready to pick us up at a moment's notice._"

"_Copy that, Captain. Happy hunting. Dunkirk out._"

James pulled out his sniper rifle, peering through the scope at the entrance to the base.

"_Two guards. Collins, take the left one; I'll take out the one on the right._"

There was a moment's pause as Collins knelt down next to the captain, drawing his own rifle.

"_I see them. On your count, Captain._"

"_Three!_"

Two sharp cracks pierced the air and the two guards fell to the floor, blood oozing from holes between their upper eyes. The two snipers roamed their rifles over the rest of the camp, but couldn't see any other guards. Nodding to himself, James lowered his rifle.

"_Clear!_"

The two snipers stood, turning back to face the group.

"_Alright, let's move up._"

A shout of surprise rent the air. Whipping round, James saw a batarian standing over the bodies of the two guards, looking around for the killers.

"_Let's go; fast and quiet._"

James holstered his rifle, drawing his pistol in it's place. Activating his thrusters, he rocketed down behind the batarian. Before the slaver could turn round, James wrapped his arm around the alien's throat, pulled his head back and fired his pistol into the batarian's back. The batarian went limp. Releasing his grip, he let the alien fall to the ground. As the rest of Alpha Squad touched down next to him, he pulled the trigger again, releasing a round into the batarian's skull.

James holstered his pistol as he looked up.

"_Collins, get the door._"

The squad fanned out as their tech expert began to bypass the lock on the door. Within moments, there was a faint beep, and the control panel changed from red to green.

"_Captain? We're in._" Collins said, standing up again.

"_Good work Collins. Weapons ready, everyone._"

The squad all drew their weapons of choice. James cast one last look around the group before punching the door button.

The first thing that James noticed about the base, was how quiet it was. It was almost deafening in its silence. The captain looked around carefully, surveying every corner for possible threats.

"_Captain? Are you sure this is the right place?_" Simpson asked.

"_It has to be._" the captain responded. Slowly, carefully, he made his way into the main room.

It was deserted. Several computer terminals were dotted around the room, but there was no sign of anyone there. James led his team across the room, heading toward a door at the far end. It was already unlocked, a fact that didn't help calm the captain at all. Tentatively, he reached out, opening the door.

As Alpha Squad piled into the room, they were finally met by life forms. A group of four batarians were stood near a terminal, reading a list of numbers off the screen. At the sound of the door opening, they whipped around, reaching for their weapons. Two of them dropped to the floor before they even touched their guns. Another barely got the pistol expanded before he, too, was gunned down. The last batarian let out a cry of pain as a round punctured his leg. He dropped to the floor, gripping at his leg, trying to stem the flow of blood. James strode forward quickly, kicking the slaver's gun away from him. He opened his mouth to speak, but a voice over a communicator cut him off.

"_Tagrak? What the hell's going on down there?_"

James knelt down by Tagrak, activating his helmet's voice module and pointing his pistol between the batarian's eyes.

"Everything's normal down here, isn't it?"

The batarian's four eyes went wide with fear. He nodded furiously. Hauling himself up onto the console, he pressed a button next to a small microphone.

"Barshuk, this is Tagrak. Everything's fine down here."

"_What happened? We heard shots._"

James nudged the back of Tagrak's head with his gun.

"Slight weapons malfunction, but it's all under control now."

"_Make sure it stays that way._" Then the line went dead.

The batarian let out a groan of pain as he slid back down to the floor.

"What do you want?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Is Tagrak the leader of this little operation?" James asked, deflecting the batarian's question.

"Who wants to know?"

"The person who's going to give you a fifth eye socket if you don't tell us what we want to know!" James said viciously, bring his pistol dangerously close to Tagrak's face.

"Yes, he's the leader!" Tagrak cried, eyes wide with panic now. "But you won't get to him, he's surrounded by guards."

"Not a problem." James said, straightening up. "Where is he?"

"I'm not telling - " Tagrak gave another cry of pain as yet another round punctured his leg. "Upstairs, second door on the right!"

James smiled slightly.

"You're too kind." He turned back to his team. "Let's go."

The sound of metal scraping on metal was what caught the captain's attention. He turned, but Davenport was faster. He brought his pistol up, firing a round straight through Tagrak's head. The batarian slumped to the floor, blood flowing freely from the small hole in his head.

James let out a soft breath.

"Thanks, Commander."

"No problem."

The squad moved quickly through the base until they reached the door that Tagrak had mentioned.

"_Alright, go in heavy. Collins, open the door._"

Collins did as instructed. The door slid open. And chaos erupted.

James stormed in, allowing his shields to absorb the initial shots as he ducked down behind a table. Hearing a break in enemy fire, he popped his head up, loosing a couple of shots of his own, before ducking down again.

A grenade flew over the top of the desk, attaching itself to the wall. James dove to the side as the grenade detonated, taking out the desk and a large chunk of the wall with it. Unclipping a grenade from his belt, he activated it and tossed it into the centre of a group of slavers. He dove back into cover as the grenade exploded, taking out the group at the same time.

"ENOUGH!"

James stood up slowly, looking around the room. Batarian bodies littered the floor. A lone batarian was stood next to one of the many cells dotting the wall. He had a pistol out, pointing it through the bars at the head of a human. Slowly, James lowered his gun, stepping forward carefully.

"Why are you here, human?"

"Are you Barshuk?"

"Who wants to know?" the batarian asked brusquely.

"It's him." Davenport muttered. James made a show of looking round the room, first at the bodies on the floor, then at his squad.

"You're outnumbered five to one, Barshuk. Stand down."

The batarian twisted his face into what James assumed was supposed to be a sneer.

"You make one move, and I kill this human."

"I won't lose sleep over one man." James said, hoping the slaver wouldn't call his bluff. He was sorely mistaken.

"In that case, there's really no reason to let him live." His finger tightened around the trigger.

The sound of the shot reverberated around the room. The look on Barshuk's face seemed rather fixed. He looked down, his eyes widening at the sight of the hole in his chest. He looked back up at the captain, his pistol raised, ready to fire again. The batarian gave one last shuddering breath before he slowly fell to the floor, the gun skittering away.

James lowered his pistol, letting out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.

"Good work everyone. Johnson, get those cells open. Collins, see what you can get off of those terminals. Simpson, watch their backs. Davenport and I will sweep the base and see if there is anyone else here."

"Aye aye, Captain."

After a thorough and uneventful sweep of the base, James and Davenport returned to the main room, to see almost all of the prisoners were now free.

"Collins, what have you got?" James asked, seeing Collins watching his Omnitool intently as numbers streamed across it.

"A veritable goldmine, Captain." came the reply. "Accounts, shipping manifestos, maps, coordinates. Everything we need to shut this operation down once and for all."

James' eyebrows shot upwards in surprise. He could hardly believe his luck.

"How long until you can have it all downloaded?"

"About another five minutes, Captain."

James nodded. Activating his radio again, he turned away from the squad.

"_Singh, do you copy?_"

"_I hear you, Captain._"

"_We're ready for pickup. Lock onto my position._"

"_Aye aye, Captain._"

"_We're extracting civilians as well. We may need another shuttle._"

"_I'll inform Golding, Captain. ETA ten minutes._"

"_Good. Radley out._"

James turned back to his team.

"We've got ten minutes, people. Let's pick it up."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Just over twenty minutes later, James strode through the halls of the Dunkirk, heading for the bridge. The door opened immediately and he walked through, settling himself in his chair.

"Jackpot, set a course for Arcturus Station."

"Aye aye, Captain."

As Jackpot's hands began quickly swiping over the various controls, James activated his personal terminal and began typing up his mission report.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Welcome to Arcturus Station, Captain."

James simply nodded to the Corporal as he stepped onto the dock at Arcturus Station. He had received a message from the Alliance brass that Admiral Hackett wished to see him almost as soon as they had left FTL. James knew from experience that Hackett was not a man you kept waiting.

After a relatively short elevator ride, James stepped into the waiting area of Hackett's office. He walked up to the desk, leaning his weight on it as he waited for a clerk to come out.

Moments later, a young woman in her twenties came out of a side room.

"Captain James Radley of the SSV Dunkirk to see Admiral Hackett." James said, standing straight again.

The woman tapped briefly at her keypad for a few moments.

"Ah, yes." She leaned down to a small microphone on the desk.

"Admiral? Captain Radley's here to see you, sir."

"Send him in." came the slightly scratchy reply. The woman smiled at James.

"Go ahead."

"Thank you." He turned on his heel, marching up to the door, which slid open as he approached.

Admiral Hackett was sat behind his desk, looking at something on a terminal. He looked up as James stopped in front of his desk.

"Admiral." James said, snapping off a smart salute.

Hackett nodded.

"At ease, Captain." He closed down the terminal before looking at James again. "I just read your report from Mindoir. Very impressive, Captain."

"Thank you, sir."

"That's not why I called you in here though. I've received new orders from the Alliance brass. They want you and your squad reassigned."

"Sir?"

"I don't know if you've heard yet, but Commander Shepard was recently made a Council Spectre."

James nodded in understanding. He had seen a report on the Alliance News Network, but admittedly hadn't read it in any great depth.

"I did see, sir."

"Well, the brass want to ensure that we don't lose our first human Spectre." Hackett said. "They've requested that Alpha Squad be assigned to help Commander Shepard on his mission."

James frowned slightly.

"So would we answer to the Alliance, or to Shepard?"

"You still answer to the Alliance, and you still retain operational control over your squad. You will have the power to veto any of Shepard's orders if you feel it is in the best interests of your squad. If anything, you'll have more control than you did before."

"Do we get a choice in this, sir?" James asked, wondering if he was pushing too far.

Hackett sighed.

"I'm afraid not. The Alliance wants to ensure we keep our Spectre, and they want the best to do so."

"What about accountability? I'm not being dragged down if Shepard's mission goes to hell."

"Don't worry; you're only accountable to your crew, as before. Shepard's in charge of the mission, so everything's on him."

James sighed.

"Very well, sir. Where are we meeting Shepard?"

"The Citadel. Meet Shepard there, and he'll fill you in on the mission details. Anderson already knows about this, so he'll be able to answer any other questions you may have."

"Thank you, sir."

"Thank _you_, Captain."

James saluted again as he left the office. He moved quickly through the station, soon making his way back to the dock where the Dunkirk was currently refuelling.

Davenport was waiting for him outside the main airlock.

"What did the Admiral want?" he asked, saluting as James approached.

"We're being reassigned.

-x-x-x-x-x-

**A/N:**** This trilogy will follow each of the Mass Effect games, though they will be told from a more peripheral perspective, particularly Mass Effect 2.**

**The idea for Spacedivers came from a scene in Star Trek: Into Darkness. If you haven't seen it, I won't say which scene, as it contains rather a large spoiler. If you have seen it, you'll know which scene I mean.**

*** An estimate based on Felix Baumgartner's 2012 space jump. I'm no physicist, so if anyone has a better idea of what this figure should be, let me know.**


End file.
